Chapter 299 - 296: Blood Burial Flower

Chapter 299: Chapter 296: Blood Burial Flower

Faced with the overwhelming roar from the crowd, Feng Hao was completely floored. The only thing comparable to this scene was probably back when he achieved god-tier status in *Mage*.

Besides, Minister Qian’s introduction had been so outlandish that even he felt a little embarrassed by the praise.

"Ahem, uh... Thank you to all my brothers and sisters in the trade for making a special trip here. I am deeply honored," Feng Hao said, giving an awkward bow of thanks.

His words were met with an instant barrage of enthusiastic responses.

"What do you mean, ’brothers and sisters’? You fought your way into the Thief Contender’s Battle! We should be the ones calling you Brother Zei."

"That’s right! If you need any help in the future, just say the word. All the thieves in Wolf Country have your back."

"I wonder if you have a girlfriend, handsome? I really admire you, you know!" a glamorous female thief said, winking flirtatiously.

"A little slut like you thinks she’s worthy of being the contender’s girlfriend? Have you no shame?" a person nearby immediately retorted.

"Get lost! *You’re* the slut! Your whole family are sluts!"

After the glamorous thief finished speaking, a wave of uproarious laughter swept through the crowd, and many of the female thieves began casting surreptitious, flirty glances at Feng Hao.

The whole situation was mortifying for Feng Hao. Thankfully, Qian Sanduo was decent enough to quickly disperse the crowd of thieves before leading Feng Hao to an office upstairs.

To Feng Hao’s surprise, there was a familiar face in the room: his old friend from the Artifact Refining department, Xiong Tianfang.

He hadn’t seen him in over a month, and Xiong Tianfang looked like a completely different person. His previously slovenly appearance had vanished without a trace. Draped in a light golden robe, he had a steady and extraordinary air about him, the very image of an Artifact Refining Master.

"You’re here, my friend?" Xiong Tianfang said with a light laugh, giving Feng Hao a friendly thump on the chest.

Feng Hao’s eyes widened in surprise. "Damn, Brother Xiong, since when did you start caring about your appearance?"

"Sigh, I have no choice." Xiong Tianfang smiled wryly. "I’m the chief Artifact Refiner for the Wind Clothing Store now. I represent the face of our Thief God Hall, so I have to look the part."

"Is that so?" Feng Hao smiled in surprise. ’I’m really happy for him.’

’To be honest, with Xiong Tianfang’s Artifact Refining skills, he couldn’t be a more perfect fit for the chief Artifact Refiner of the Wind Clothing Store.’

Qian Sanduo, who was standing to the side, also chuckled. "This kid is quite the big shot now. Even many eighth and ninth-rank veteran thieves come to him to have equipment made."

"Hehe, everyone’s just giving me too much credit," Xiong Tianfang said humbly.

Feng Hao nodded and looked up. "By the way, Brother Xiong, you’re not at the academy anymore?"

"I’ve already exchanged for everything I needed, so there was no reason to stay," Xiong Tianfang said with a faint smile.

"That’s true. It’s not like you could get a graduation certificate by staying there anyway," Feng Hao chuckled.

Seeing that the two had mostly caught up, Qian Sanduo stepped forward. "Xiaofeng, you’ve brought great honor to our branch hall this time. The Imperial City has specially allocated 100,000 points for you. On top of that, from now on, you’ll get a twenty percent discount whenever you exchange for resources at any branch hall in Wolf Country. How’s that for a sweet deal?"

"Holy crap, there’s a deal like that?" Feng Hao said, dumbfounded.

"Of course." Qian Sanduo chuckled and took out a grayish-black crystal. "These are Physical Points. Just absorb them into your [Thief’s Mark]. I’ve also added in your share of the profits from the Wind Clothing Store during this period. It’s a total of 180,000 points."

"Physical Points?" Feng Hao took the grayish-black crystal curiously and examined it with a puzzled look.

Qian Sanduo explained with a chuckle, "Points are essentially a special type of energy. Physical Points are the crystallized form of that energy. Generally speaking, only an amount exceeding 100,000 points can be condensed into a crystal."

"I see." Feng Hao nodded in realization. He held the grayish-black crystal in his hand and channeled his Magic Power into it, easily breaking it down into wisps of energy that flowed into the [Thief’s Mark] on his palm.

After absorbing it, he extended his Divine Sense into the [Thief’s Mark] and quickly received feedback:

Name: Feng Hao

Origin: Jinzhou - Rongcheng

Rank: Seventh-Rank Thief

Points: 188,575

Service Privilege: Advanced

Active Mission: None

’Holding over 180,000 points feels damn good. If I had known there’d be a reward from the branch hall for winning the preliminaries, I would have rushed over here immediately without even waiting for Minister Qian to find me.’

"Minister Qian, does this mean I can get a twenty percent discount when I exchange for resources at our branch hall too?" Feng Hao asked with a smile.

"Naturally. But before that, you’ll need to go to the front desk and have your special privileges updated."

Feng Hao nodded in understanding and turned to leave. "You two carry on then. I’m going to head over to the Treasure Pavilion. It’s killing me not to spend all these points."

"Alright, go ahead," Qian Sanduo chuckled. "Oh, and don’t forget to send over some design blueprints."

"No problem," Feng Hao replied as he left.

On his way to the main hall, every thief he passed greeted him enthusiastically, an amount of attention Feng Hao wasn’t used to.

He hurried to the front desk, and after Sister Ling helped him update his discount privilege, he made a beeline for the Treasure Pavilion.

’Truthfully, Feng Hao didn’t have any specific items he wanted to exchange for. He just felt like he had more points than he knew what to do with and wanted to splurge a little.’

’Of course, he wasn’t an idiot. Splurging was one thing, but he had to spend his points on useful resources.’

Right now, Feng Hao’s main priorities were to construct a suitable Secret Technique for his [Deceitful Poison Chain Soul], help Yao Girl graft a few talent trees, and then head to the [Origin Secret Realm] together to hunt for suitable spirit essences for the Ghost Silkworm Silk set.

With that in mind, Feng Hao made a specific stop at the jade slip and book section, exchanging points for a large pile of books on basic Demon Patterns and Secret Technique construction.

’Books and jade slips are so cheap. I’ve been at this for ages and haven’t even spent 10,000 points.’

After a moment of smug self-satisfaction, Feng Hao began to wander through the various floors of the Treasure Pavilion. All sorts of materials for Artifact Refining, mechanics, and alchemy—as long as there was a chance he might use them, they became a target for his spending spree.

After wandering all over the floors, Feng Hao finally stopped in the Alchemy Resources Area.

There, in a display case in the Medicinal Materials Area, he spotted a few special herbs—the very Blood Burial Flowers he had been looking for.

When he first left Rongcheng, he had bought a few stalks of Purple Leaf Grass along the way, but because he could never find any Blood Burial Flowers, he’d had to shelve his plan to concoct Blood Essence Pills until now.

Although he wasn’t particularly short on Qi Blood at the moment, it was always good to have more. Besides, helping Yao Girl graft her talents would consume a certain amount of his maximum Qi Blood, and Blood Essence Pills were elixirs that permanently increased one’s maximum Qi Blood.

All in all, these Blood Burial Flowers had appeared at the perfect time.

’If I remember correctly, there weren’t any Blood Burial Flowers before. Were they restocked recently?’

With the Blood Burial Flowers right in front of him, Feng Hao didn’t hesitate. He pressed the palm with his embedded [Thief’s Mark] against the protective barrier and, with a slight flicker of his Divine Sense, quickly completed the exchange for the flowers.

’Nine Blood Burial Flowers for a total of 72,000 points. Truly worthy of being a rare medicinal herb. Good thing I got that twenty percent discount, it saved me 18,000 points.’

Any other Alchemist would probably have been unwilling to spend so many points on a few Blood Burial Flowers, but for Feng Hao, this transaction was more than worthwhile.

After all, besides being used to concoct Blood Essence Pills, Blood Burial Flowers had many other uses, including medicinal applications in the field of poisons.